The Trip Through Time
by LusciousNesha
Summary: Sam travels to the future in a time machine and meets an elderly Mercedes, finding something out about himself in the process. One shot.


_I forgot that I had written this. I think I wrote it last year during a Samcedes Week on tumblr. I never even titled it..._

_This story has so many influences that I don't even know where to begin! Also, I sort of rushed, so it's maybe not as good as some other stuff, but I had fun writing it._

"Today is the day!" Kurt Hummel cheered, and Mercedes Jones started out of her daydream of one of their star athletes, Sam Evans, long enough to notice for the first time that Kurt was all dressed up. He was going on about something that she simply had not been paying attention to, between her naughty thoughts and the lingering looks that the blond was giving her from across the schoolyard. "So, which are you hoping for? Time Capsule or Time Machine?"

"Time Capsule," she said. "I can barely handle living in the time that I've grown up in. I don't want to try to think about surviving in some other time. Definitely the Time Capsule. I want to know what kind of stuff our ancestors left for us to sift through."

"I wonder what _SAM _is hoping for," Kurt sang Sam's name, as he often did when he said it, teasing his best friend for her obvious crush. She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. They passed by a holographic image of the hover-ball team and Kurt commented, "He always looks so good in these GIFs. I can only image how it'll be when they're billboards, instead of posters. He'll be a star someday."

"Yeah, he definitely has the DNA for it," she said, gazing at his smiling face as he and the other guys in the poster floated, flawlessly with their anti-gravity shoes. "Why are you dressed like that?" She finally asked Kurt.

"It's ancient fashion. I intend to time travel to the past, to different historical fashion events and make my presence known," he said.

"Won't that change things in _our _time, and isn't that illegal in time travel?" She asked, already knowing the answer, but trying to remind him.

"Yes and yes, but it's for a good cause. I am going to show up at these events and when I finally return to _this _time, I am going to be considered this generation's reincarnation of me... a god of fashion who always changes the face of fashion," he said, shrugging, simply.

"But, if the time monitors in the alternate dimension that keeps track of our time travel events notice the ripple, you could be executed," Mercedes pointed out.

"By that time, I will have already become immortal. Even if I am executed, there will be generations and generations awaiting the return of the Fashion Messiah, and I can die happy knowing that," Kurt said, smiling. "Come on, we need to get our numbers for the Time Week generator!" he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the lines.

Mercedes had not been very excited about Time Week. It was supposed to be a privilege to be chosen, but she worried about how this might negatively affect her future. Time Week was designed as a new way to help genetically challenged teenagers have a better resume for their future appointments.

Most parents designed their children, before ever even deciding whether or not they would even actually bring them into the world. Then there were others, like her and Kurt – kids whose parents decided to simply have the children that their bodies would yield. They didn't get perfect genes. Some of them had bad eyesight. Some of them had breathing conditions. They generally were less than the other children and in their last year of school, they would need some type of miracle or extreme special skill to be granted success in the real world.

Kurt and Mercedes had both been selected to participate in Time Week, to advance their transcripts. Some of them would be selected to excavate a time capsule, some of them would be selected to fill up a time capsule. Some would be selected to travel into the future and some would be selected to travel into the past. Kurt's desires were known. Mercedes didn't really know what the hell she wanted. All that she knew was that at the end of this year, if she didn't make herself appear to be just as good as the genetic masterpieces surrounding her, she might end up being in the service industry for the rest of her life.

She wanted to be a star and wanted to sing, but she was rarely ever given a chance to share her talent. People like Rachel Berry, who had been designed specifically to sing were simply easier to give all of the singing positions in school and it would be even worse in the real world, where Rachel's transcript would prove that she had been the lead vocalist in every play, musical, and competition that the school had in her entire high school career. While Mercedes' voice had brought many people, even those prejudiced against her DNA, to tears, as the show choir coach told her, "It's just going to be a long hard road ahead of you with genetics like these. Rachel is always going to be people's first choice. I'll let you sing on the team, Mercedes. But, I can't rob Rachel of opportunities for you when we all know that the world will never give you a bright future in this field." Her eyes stung thinking about how much his words hurt. Her heart stung thinking about how true they were.

Kurt and Mercedes hugged as he grabbed his huge electronic cart of clothes for the different events that he was going to show up for. "Wish me luck! Here's to immortality!" He cheered and headed for the Time Machine. She folded her arms and sighed.

"He going to the past or the future?" A familiar voice said from behind her. She turned to see Sam, as gorgeous as ever, smiling at her with his entire face.

"The past," she answered.

"I got the future," he said, with a shrug.

"You?" She wondered.

"Yeah," he answered.

"Wait... _you're_ genetically challenged?" She asked, looking him up and down.

He laughed, uneasy and said, "Yeah, well, my parents couldn't afford to design my genes. I got lucky and ended up with a lot of good stuff, just naturally – thank God. But, I'm dyslexic. That's almost like a red flag on any academic positions in the real world, so I work towards music and sports." He looked at his tag and said, "I wonder how the future is gonna be."

"Hey – if you get a chance, while you're there... could you do me a favor and check to see if I've disappeared into obscurity?" She asked.

"I doubt that's possible, Mizz Jones, but I promise that I'll find out the details, for you."

Mercedes had a pretty good time digging up the Time capsule with Artie and Becky, amongst others. The machine that they used to do it gave her a very movie-type feeling and she started to think about a future in movies! She could do soundtracks and only her voice would ever need to be judged. She sighed. _Was that all she was? An endless stream of daydreams? _

They went through all kinds of things – some silly, some useless, some really interesting and fun. Mercedes was taken aback when she found something in the capsule with her name on it. She picked up the package and put it into her bag. Technically, they weren't supposed to take anything with them, unless it was put into the specific pile of things that would not be put into a museum or a laboratory, but this had her name on it and she considered it hers, no matter how weird it was that something from ages ago had her name on it. "Oh, God – Kurt!" She said, worried. What if something had happened to him in the past? What if she needed to go rescue him? Risking trouble, she rushed away from the site of the excavation to go listen to the file in her portable message player.

Sam knocked on the door, more excited about meeting this woman than he had been about any of the other wonders that he had experienced on this trip to the future. This trip was excellent and he was going to write books and draw comics about it! He'd looked up Mercedes in the library, which was pretty hard, because the technology was so vastly different and he already had trouble reading. But, he found an address for a woman with the same name and he wanted to know if maybe they were related, or maybe she knew something. Even if it was just a chance that they simply shared the same name, it couldn't hurt, and he had promised Mercedes that he would look into it.

An elderly lady with bright, silver hair and a perfect smile opened the door and froze when she saw him. "Hi, Mizz Jones?"

"What are you doing here?" She asked him, with widened doe eyes and a surprised expression.

"I looked you up in the library and I was just..."

"Sam, it's me!" She said, laughing a little. "Mercedes," she added.

"Oh!" He said, then looked at her. Yeah – it was definitely her, but dang – that would make her like... 125, or something! And... she was a gorgeous 125 year old! "You're still alive," he said.

"Well, yes," she said, stepping outside a bit and speaking quietly. "About 75 years ago, there were some advancments made in prolonging life. Being genetically challenged gave us a shot at being the first ones to qualify to sign up for trial treatments... and it worked! I'll probably live another fifty years," she told him, melting her heart with that smile, even in this form. "But, you have to leave, Sam. You can't be here," she told him.

"I know, I know – I'm not supposed to interact with people that I knew, I just presumed that you would be someone else, and not YOU." He smiled, but she shook her head and waved a hand to silence him.

"No, no... well, yes – that's illegal. But, I can't let you run into you," she told him.

"Whose at the door, Mizz Jones?" He heard an old man ask and immediately knew that was him... well, not HIM, but, _him. _

"Nobody, Sammy! I told you to meet me on the patio!" She called inside.

"I got bored. The day is pretty and I wanted to gape at my wife, with this sunshine and stuff in the background!" He fussed.

"All you shall, Sam. But, give me a minute!"

"Is that an old fan? It better not be a man!" He called.

"You better go out on that patio, Sir!" She fussed. Sam waited until she stepped outside again. "Sam, this is dangerous. I need you to go."

"But, I need to know how this happened! How did he get you? I've been in love with you for the past four years and I have never been able to get you to see that! How did I do it?"

"Sam... I don't want to try to tell you what to do. Because, if I give you advice that changes that past, I may not have the life that I've lived. I love the life that I've had with you and I don't want to change a detail about it – good or bad. So, all that I can tell you is that when I asked you to check up on me, you came back and said, 'You've lived a full life. You're happy. You're healthy and still beautiful.'" She smiled brightly and said, "It was nice to see you Sam."

"Wait, please... I mean, obviously something happens and I win you over. That's a dream come true and I'll respect your wishes to not try to advise me, but, can I ask when you fell for me?" He bit his lip, shaking his leg, anxiously.

"You've come from our senior year, so that means that in your present time, I've been in love with you for the past four years and never thought that you would ever see me as anything but an inferior genetic specimen. I have to go, before you come to the door in your underwear, with a shotgun." Mercedes headed back inside of her home, but paused and told him, "You've been trying to impress people because of your flaw. You don't have to try to impress her. You can just show her who you are and she'll be yours forever, trust me," she said, pointing her thumb at the house before heading inside.

"Can I have something to remember you by? Motivation?" he asked.

She froze, then smiled and said, "You know what, now that I think about it – as a matter of fact – you _can._" The woman pulled a necklace from around her neck and placed it in his hand. She smiled and disappeared inside. He looked at the pendant. It was some type of purple stone, shimmery and sparkly, but as he looked closer, he saw that it was an old microchip that had been turned into a pendant.

The return to his present was stressful, because he knew that things were going to change, but he didn't know how! Then, he suddenly got a crazy idea, and wondered if this was the thing. Hot Old Lady Mercedes wouldn't give him a clue, so his idea must have been one that worked, right? He snuck into the Time Machine, to travel into the past. It was a bit painful, as the machine was not properly registered, due to the fact that he had not been approved for a second trip. But, he arrived safely.

Sam arrived on the site of the burial of the Time Capsule. It surprised him how much this Coach Sylvester looked like Principle Sylvester of his time, but this woman was pregnant (at her age?) So, maybe his Principle was a descendant. Sam found himself a hoodie and went onto the site, with the gift that he had prepared for Mercedes in his pocket. He wrote on it, "Someday, you'll be mine, Mercedes Jones," and tossed the conspicuous purple package inside.

"Hey! You! Kid!" He heard. He turned to see Time Officers approaching and he put his hands up. "Did you change anything?" They asked.

"No!" He said, as they took him back to his own time.

Mercedes looked at the package. It looked like there had once been something else inscribed on it, besides her name, but time obviously had allowed it to fade. She put the chip into her player and viewed a cartoon. It was a story about a boy, who looked remarkably like Sam, and as she watched, she realized, _was _Sam, and how he was in love with a girl, from afar. She sat in the bathroom for hours watching the cartoon – different times that she remembered her and Sam sharing and seeing his POV and how he felt about each of those situations.

She watched it up through the end, which was when she asked him to check on her, he came back and gave her the brief report, then he said, "Hey, look... I know that this might seem out of nowhere, but, I've actually jhad a thing for you for quite a while, now, and I'm just wondering if you're willing to, at this point give me a chance to show you who I really am, and see where that takes us?" he held his hand out to her and she stared at it, with him worrying himself into craziness that she would reject him.

But, she gave him a soft smile and said, "I'd love to," and took his hand. At the end was a message, "I love you, Mizz Jones, and I know that I always will. The End? No... this is only the beginning."

Mercedes rushed out of the bathroom, putting the chip into a special spot in her purse, to not lose it and bumped into a crowd of people. "What the hell is going on?" She asked.

Santana Lopez answered, "Time abuse."

Mercedes' hurt jumped in her throat. Oh God! Did Kurt get caught? She broke through the crowd and saw, not Kurt, but Sam, being given an electronic issuance of files and promises that with his genetic challenge, he would be lucky to ever have any type of future. She gasped and Sam seemed to hear it and looked over at her. The smile that broke across his face was priceless! He told the Time officer, "I have a feeling that I'll be lucky enough."

Mercedes rushed over to him and asked, "What happened? What did you do?" She was still holding his package, and when he saw the purple container in her hand, he smiled.

"I went to the past without a ticket," he said. The officers were finished with him and leaving. She simply shook her head, frustrated. They stood in silence, for a moment. "I wanted to give you that present. Didn't you like it?" He asked.

"When did you make that?" She asked. He shrugged his shoulders. He had not even watched it himself.

"I got it from somebody in the future. I don't even know what's on it." He was worried that if he saw it, it might affect whether or not he gave it to her, and he thought that if he wasn't meant to give it to her then, then she wouldn't have let him take it from her in the future. Future talk always made his brain go in circles. What was important now, was the present.

"Mercedes, about your future... You've lived a full life. You're happy. You're healthy and still beautiful..." She watched him, doe eyed and hopeful as her heart swelled. It was just like the cartoon that he claimed not to see. If he HAD seen it, he had it memorized. If he HADN'T, this was fate! She gave him a soft smile and answered, just as she had in the cartoon. When she took his hand he pulled her to him and they began to walk together.

"So, if you didn't watch it, and you didn't make it, where did it come from?" She asked.

"How about instead of worrying about that, we just enjoy getting to know each other? I have a feeling that it'll maybe turn up later... then you'll have two," he said, with a shrug. Mercedes squeezed his hand and rested her head on his shoulders, something so innocent that she had been wanting to do for so long. But, Sam had been wanting to do something else. He spun around suddenly and have her a kiss on the cheek. He wanted her lips, but it was too early. He didn't want to scare her off.

"Hey... I decided that I don't want two," she said. "I'll just wait for this, when you rightfully give it to me," she told him, with a wink, placed the chip back inside the package, sealed it and tossed it into the time capsule that the students were about to bury. She and Sam interlocked their fingers and began to walk and talk about themselves – not the future, but the present. It was virtually perfect.

"Oh my God!" One of their friends Tina said, as she came up to them.

"What?" he asked.

"It's Kurt Hummel! The immortal prince of fashion!" Tina said, "He's HERE!" She rushed to a crowd of people, hovering around Kurt. Mercedes snickered, knowing good and full well that Kurt had gotten off of the Time Machine. He'd succeeded, apparently.

Sam looked at her and said, "I guess that I wasn't the only one abusing time travel?" She laughed and he pulled her hand, "Come on, to our future." The two headed for class, their relationship on the horizon, their love for each other undeniable and their future together, inevitable.

Meanwhile, in the future, elderly Mercedes and Sam both watched as the students excavated the Time Capsule. They were excited. They had more tools and assistance and surveillance than there had been in their day. Mercedes shook her head and said, "I am too old for this, hold on."

"Mercedes!" Sam hissed, as she walked up to one of the students.

"Excuse me, young man! If I guess what's in that purple package, can I have it?" She asked.

He smiled at her and said, "Sure," as he picked up said package and opened it.

"An old microchip that you don't have the technology today to even watch, right? Thank you," she said and held her hand out. He handed it over, without any argument and she tucked it into her purse as Sam took her hand. "Now, you'll have to make me another necklace for it, you know that right?"

"I made two, the first time," he told her, squeezed her hand and kissed her on the cheek.


End file.
